KOCHI: Named after the mighty Kabani river of Wayanad, the exhibition conducted by the Gaya Art Gallery is a powerful medley of various artworks by seven seasoned artists of Kerala — N K P Muthukoya, P V Nandan, T Kaladharan, Jeevanlal, Jayendran Kalam, V Venkitaraman and Anand Channar.
“This is the fourth exhibition after the establishment of the Gaya Art Gallery. We are indeed lucky to showcase some of the most eminent artists of Kerala. I consider this as one of the best exhibition our gallery has hosted since it started,” says Suresh T R, director of Gaya Art Gallery and Prussian Art Hub.
The exhibition’s main attraction is Muthukoya’s 17 most recent paintings, wherein his simplistic and surrealistic style comes alive in white pen strokes on a black matte. Interestingly, one of the paintings reads “Vote for Koya for distopia”.
The event also features three paintings from the Indian Bison series of P V Nandan, which capture the spirit of the name Kabani.
To the question of why he picked this beast among all the animals, he says, “Indian Bison is a shy animal compared to most others. Despite its powerful and intimidating appearance, we can observe a bashfulness in its expressions and movements. This contradiction interested me.”
V Venkitraman’s bright-coloured paintings, influenced by Tantric art, vibrantly depict themes from creation to ecological balance. In one of Vekitaraman’s paintings, we get the bird’s eye view of a bright yellow bee inside a green semicircle. He says, “The increasing temperatures due to global warming could adversely affect the insects. The resulting decline in pollination can jeopardize the balance of nature.” The brown bodies of butterflies without wings give a dreadful image of where we as a society are taking ourselves.
Jayendran Kalam’s canvases are all vertical. He says, “My canvas is like a door. One can go through it to a different world. Each of them figures wings, in one form or the other. At the gallery, art enthusiasts can also be seen interpreting Jeevanlal’s Blue Dream, which is part of his avatar series. T Kaladharan’s works, which boast a study of vibrant colours, showcase his ease with his favourite medium — glass.
Kabani’s tagline is ‘The Art of Time’, making us wonder what is this art of time, really? To this, Anand Channar says, “I think right now, one should try new mediums for art as newer technologies are introduced every day. I’m upskilling myself to fit into this digital era. I look at this as a business and I’m glad that an unexpected demand for abstract paintings has come up.”
The exhibition is on until April 14. The gallery timings are 11am to 8pm.